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Queen Conch

If you’re visiting the beaches of the Caribbean Sea, the coast of Florida, or Bermuda, be sure to watch your step for queen conches! Although the insides of their shells are sometimes bright pink or orange, from the top, their shells are likely to blend in with the sea floor.  

 

Queen conches are easily distinguished by their heavy shells with a spiral arrangement of spikes leading to the apex. They use these shells as a form of armor, retracting their soft bodies into their shells to hide from predators. Queen conches can weigh up to 2.3 kilograms (5 pounds) and be as long as 30.5 centimeters (12 inches) by the time they are fully grown at 30 years old. Usually, female queen conches are larger and weigh more than their male counterparts. 

These bottom-feeding creatures are known to hide out on sandy bottoms of algal flats, coastal rubble as well as seagrass beds and other shallow environments. As herbivore grazers, they constantly snack on algae, plant material, and phytoplankton, using their tube-like mouth — called a proboscis — to feed.  

 

 

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, queen conches are a threatened species since 2024 under the Endangered Species Act. They are harvested as a source of food in the Caribbean and are subject to overfishing and illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing.  

 

 

Oceana works to limit how illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing depletes marine resources, destroys habitats, and is explicitly linked to forced labor and human rights abuses. These illicit activities can destroy essential habitats, severely deplete fish populations, and threaten global food security. Learn more about Oceana’s Illegal Fishing and Transparency campaign here. 

 

 

 

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